Taking Chances
by adriennebennett0
Summary: Annabeth Chase never thought her life would turn out like this...dating the hottest boy in school, Percy Jackson. Rated T just in case.
1. Chapter 1

Taking Chances

Chapter 1

"You're insane."

Yeah, maybe this was insane. Maybe I have lost my mind. I couldn't go another day without telling her. I snuck a glance at Nico, my best friend. He never liked any of my plans. But hey, he had the plane tickets, and I needed a break, I just hadn't planned on telling Annabeth how I felt. Not now.

Let's get a few things straight. My name is Percy Jackson. I'm fifteen years old. In the sixth grade I met Nico. We became best friends as soon as we met. He was the only one I trusted with the truth. My dad left before I was born, so I never met him. My mom is a workaholic who never puts anything in front of her job, including me. I never see her anymore. Anyway a year after I met Nico, I was assigned a partner project with a girl named Annabeth Chase. She was the school outcast. No one knew her name, yet everyone judged her. Sadly to say I was one of those people.

I was a huge jerk in middle school. A bully to the people who weren't popular and I was never able to stay with a girl more than two weeks. I had a lot of so-called "friends" but I knew I couldn't trust them with anything. When I met Annabeth, I treated her like trash. Since it was a partner project, I saw the chance to throw all the work on her, and I took it. She never gave me the time of day after that. I got really mad because at that time nobody ignored me. So I went to Nico, seeing if he knew anything about her. Turns out he knew a lot more than I thought.

Nico and Annabeth met when they were four, just after her mom died of cancer. Annabeth ended up putting all of her trust in her dad, who promised he would never leave her. About a year later he became an alcoholic, and abused Annabeth. He remarried shortly after that and had two more kids. Annabeth was pushed out of the family, abused, and treated like a slave. So eventually she lost her trust in people, except for Nico.

To say I was shocked would've been an understatement. I did not expect something like that to be her story. I felt really bad after that, so I ended up doing the entire project by myself. I tried to be nicer to Annabeth, and over the year we became really close friends.

However at the end of the eighth grade, Annabeth's dad announced that he was moving the family out to Miami. I was sad for a bit because we had grown really close. I never expected us to be anything more than best friends. But at her going away party, which was just Annabeth, Nico and I, we hugged. It was a rather long hug and as Annabeth pulled away, I could tell she was fighting back tears. She looked like she wanted to run away. But she did the complete opposite. She kissed me. Right there, in her garage, in front of Nico, she kissed me. I was dumbstruck. I stayed rooted to the spot as Annabeth went home, or didn't talk to anyone the day she left. I didn't know what to do.

I broke up with my girlfriend three days later. I haven't been with another girl since. I realized I was beginning to have feelings for Annabeth, and they turned into a lot more as I talked to her over the months she was gone. A little over two months ago, I realized I was in love with Annabeth Chase. I got really scared at first because I had never felt this way towards anyone, ever. Mostly because I had no one to return the feelings. I found myself going insane from fear. I snapped at teachers and my peers because my mind was clouded. Yesterday Nico told me he had two plane tickets to Miami for Annabeth's sixteenth birthday. I needed a break, and I needed to tell her how I felt. So here I am, standing in the middle of a house filled with teenagers celebrating her birthday.


	2. Chapter 2

Taking Chances

Chapter 2

Sometimes I really hated my friends.

I said if I were to have a party, it would be a _small_ party. And what do they do? They throw a surprise party and invite half of the student body. I didn't really think they would be excited about my birthday.

I was currently sitting on a couch in my friend, MIkey's, house. Mikey is a sophomore along with our other friends, Maya, Dana, and James. Meanwhile I'm just a freshman. I met James on my first day here, and he introduced me to his friends. I'm originally from Seattle, but I moved here after my dad god a new job. I have two friends from back home. Nico, who I've known since we were four and I haven't gone a day without talking to him, and Percy. My relationship with Percy is complicated. I met him in seventh grade when he was a player, and I hated him. But I ended up kissing him goodbye before I left. I left a little over a year ago, and I haven't talked to Percy in four months. Yeah, I'm a little bummed, but I decided tonight was about forgetting him. It was my birthday, and I needed to party.

James came and sat down next to me, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Hey," he said. "Enjoying your birthday?" He looked a little uneasy, like something was on his mind.

"Yeah, it's fine. You okay?" I asked.

He ignored my question. Instead he said, "That's good. Although there's this freak hanging out in the kitchen, and no one knows who he is. I think he said Maya invited him, yeah right. And then I ran into this one guy who said he was looking for you. I've never seen him before in my life, how could he know you?"

At this point I noticed he had a beer in his hand, and he had this glazed look over his eyes.

"James, you're drunk," I told him.

"No I'm not, baby," He leaned closer to me. "I'm sober as hell and I plan to take you on a ride tonight." His breath smelled like alcohol and he winked at me, trying to be seductive. It wasn't working.

"Yeah, okay, talk to me when you're sober." I quickly got up from the couch and made my way to the kitchen. But the moment I saw who was in the room, I stopped in my tracks.

"Nico," I breathed out.

The boy looked up, obviously shocked. But once he saw me, he face broke out into a broad smile.

"Alex! Man, it's good to see you, happy birthday!" Nico exclaimed as he took me in a huge hug.

"What are you doing here," I asked. "You're supposed to be in Seattle!"

"I got an invitation from one of your friends, Maya, I think. So I bought two tickets out here, and here I am," he said.

_Wait,_ I thought,_ he said _two _tickets…Does that mean – _

"Oh Percy's here too, by the way."

_Crap._

I laughed nervously and said, "He's here? Percy? Percy Jackson? Why is he here?" The questions came out of my mouth like word vomit. I couldn't stop it.

Nico looked scared. Well, I guess he had a right to be. It's not everyday I'm like this.

"Well," he started, "he came with me because he needed to get away from everything. And he needed to see you."  
"Why did he need to see me?" I asked. He got bored of not talking to me? Classy, Jackson."

"Look, Annabeth, just talk to him if he finds you." With that he left to go find some people to talk to. And I just found myself wander off.

I found myself sitting on a bench up out on a balcony upstairs. The only person who knew about this spot other than Mikey was James. And I was praying to all the gods he wasn't going to come up here. I started thinking, like I always do when I come up here. I think about everything, my friends, my father, and that really good chicken sandwich I had a couple weeks ago. I don't know how long I was up there.

Suddenly I heard the door to the balcony open and close behind me. I kept staring straight ahead, my eyes wandering over the Miami skyline.

"Hey," a voice said. It sounded familiar, very familiar, actually. I spun around to see who it was.

Percy Jackson stood before me, looking like he did when I last saw him. He was dressed in black jeans and a blue button down shirt, with his trademark red converse on his feet. His hair was windswept as always, making my heart flutter in my chest even more. The only thing different about him was the nervous expression on his face. It wasn't the cocky, lopsided grin that he always gave me.

All of the memories from a year ago flooded my mind. Everything from when we met, to my parting kiss I gave him right before I left. I began to blush at that point, and I was thankful for the darkness around us.

I finally brought myself to speak. "What are you doing here, Percy? Got bored of flirting with girls in Seattle and tried to check out Miami?" Harsh, I know, but he hasn't spoken to me for months, and I wanted answers.

"Annabeth, I know you're mad – " he tried.

"Why do you talk to me now?" I interrupted. "When you could have months ago? What exactly did I do to make you ignore me?" The whole time I said this I was fighting back tears. I don't know where they came from, a wave of emotion just washed over me.

Yes, I'll admit it. I love Percy. I have since I met him, even if he was a jerk.

"I didn't talk to you because I was scared," he said.

That got my attention. "Scared of what?" I asked. "What could you possibly be scared of that would make you not talk to me?"

He looked at me with such emotion on his face it was scary. I had never seen him like this before.

"I had never been in love before," Percy whispered.

_Wait, what?_ Did Percy freaking Jackson just say the 'L' word? Well if he's in love, then who's the sucker he's fallen for?

"Yeah, I love you, Annabeth. There, I said it."

I stared at him stupidly, with my mouth wide open and blinking like crazy. This was my dream, but I did not expect it to happen like this. Percy caught me off guard.

"Really?" I asked as I looked up at him. He nodded shyly, blushing as he did so. And then he did something even more surprising. He kissed me.

It was breathtaking, the kiss. The whole world seemed to die away. It was just Percy and I, and everything was perfect.


End file.
